michelleoc
This review may contain spoilers
A good show to watch, but irritating at times
I was looking forward to seeing the leads together. I've loved her in everything I've seen her in, and he was my favorite part of Alchemy of Souls. They were extremely cute together. They had some serious scenes, and they also had a lot of scenes that just made me smile. For instance, once they were dating and they were deciding what to call one another. Their shyness with each other was very endearing. I didn't necessarily feel "chemistry" from them. Watching them as a couple, the word that comes to mind is "comfortable". I don't know if this is because they both just so extremely young, or what.
LIKED:
1)The storyline was interesting, but sometimes they used the gong sound for truth, as well as for lies, so that was confusing.
2)Kim So Hyun as Sol Hee was good for this part. Aside from being beautiful, there is something about her that men and women are both drawn to, men want to date her, and women want to be her friend. Those are my favorite type of character. Hwang Min Hyun was okay in this. He was very understated, and I did like his ability to portray distrust, fear, and loneliness. There wasn't a lot of range from him, but I think that was more because of the way the part was written.
3)I think my favorite part of this show was Seo Ji Han as Lee Gang Min. He has very expressive eyes and was able to portray a lot of emotions with just his eyes. This character was a classic example of perfect boyfriend material. He loved her so much, he wanted to be with her and protect her, but the most important thing to him was her happiness. At the end, when he was on stakeout and was watching her walk by, his face just showed every emotion.
4) I loved the gang leader. There was a sort of a gray moral code about him. Him sticking up for Sol Hee and helping her was heartwarming.
5) I liked the OST, but I especially loved the background piano playing throughout, moving from Chopsticks to classical pieces. It was very subtle and playful.
NOT SO MUCH:
1) Wow! There were so many unlikeable and irritating characters! The stalking singer, both moms, the "friend" that keeps extorting money from Do Ha, plagiarism company guy, as well as Do Ha's ex-girlfriend in flashbacks. I was especially irritated by the singer that was following him around, paying people to find him, etc. I really don't care for the trend in Asian dramas about the scheming woman willing to do whatever to get the man. They did, ultimately redeem her.
2) Again, the gong sounding at different times.
3) I also felt like they had so many characters to keep the mystery moving forward, to keep us guessing. But after the mystery was revealed, there wasn't much going on. This could have been a couple of episodes shorter.
4) I guessed early on who the perpetrator was, but the reasoning was a surprise.
So, I can definitely recommend this one, frustrations and all.
LIKED:
1)The storyline was interesting, but sometimes they used the gong sound for truth, as well as for lies, so that was confusing.
2)Kim So Hyun as Sol Hee was good for this part. Aside from being beautiful, there is something about her that men and women are both drawn to, men want to date her, and women want to be her friend. Those are my favorite type of character. Hwang Min Hyun was okay in this. He was very understated, and I did like his ability to portray distrust, fear, and loneliness. There wasn't a lot of range from him, but I think that was more because of the way the part was written.
3)I think my favorite part of this show was Seo Ji Han as Lee Gang Min. He has very expressive eyes and was able to portray a lot of emotions with just his eyes. This character was a classic example of perfect boyfriend material. He loved her so much, he wanted to be with her and protect her, but the most important thing to him was her happiness. At the end, when he was on stakeout and was watching her walk by, his face just showed every emotion.
4) I loved the gang leader. There was a sort of a gray moral code about him. Him sticking up for Sol Hee and helping her was heartwarming.
5) I liked the OST, but I especially loved the background piano playing throughout, moving from Chopsticks to classical pieces. It was very subtle and playful.
NOT SO MUCH:
1) Wow! There were so many unlikeable and irritating characters! The stalking singer, both moms, the "friend" that keeps extorting money from Do Ha, plagiarism company guy, as well as Do Ha's ex-girlfriend in flashbacks. I was especially irritated by the singer that was following him around, paying people to find him, etc. I really don't care for the trend in Asian dramas about the scheming woman willing to do whatever to get the man. They did, ultimately redeem her.
2) Again, the gong sounding at different times.
3) I also felt like they had so many characters to keep the mystery moving forward, to keep us guessing. But after the mystery was revealed, there wasn't much going on. This could have been a couple of episodes shorter.
4) I guessed early on who the perpetrator was, but the reasoning was a surprise.
So, I can definitely recommend this one, frustrations and all.
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